The Lerma Ducal Palace is the palace of the dukes of Lerma in Lerma

Lerma, Burgos

Lerma is a Spanish town and municipality in the province of Burgos, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It has important monuments dating from the 17th century, which were built by the Duke of Lerma....

 in Spain, occupying the whole of one side of the city's Plaza. Originally it had immmense gardens below it, on the banks of the river, with fountains, stately homes and seven chapel

Chapel

A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...

s, of which one (Cristo) remains. All documents relating to its construction have been conserved. A 17th century work, building started in 1601 under commission from Francisco Gómez de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma

Francisco Goméz de Sandoval y Rojas, Duke of Lerma

Don Francisco Gómez de Sandoval, 1st Duke of Lerma , a favourite of Philip III of Spain, was the first of the validos through whom the later Habsburg monarchs ruled. He was succeeded by Don Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares.-Biography:The family of Sandoval was ancient and powerful...

. Its architect was Francisco de Mora

Francisco de Mora

Francisco de Mora was a Spanish Renaissance architect. He was uncle to the architect Juan Gómez de Mora and to the humanist Baltasar Porreño...

 and is it is considered de Mora's masterwork and one of the finest buildings of that era.

During the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

 the building was used as a prison. It is currently used as a parador

Parador

A parador , in Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries, is a kind of luxury hotel, usually located in a historic building such as a monastery or castle. Parar means to stop, halt or stay.- Paradores de Turismo de España :...

.

Facade

The doorway is crowned by a frontispiece held up by columns. The large walnut

Walnut

Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...

 door is decorated with 520 bronze

Bronze

Bronze is a metal alloy consisting primarily of copper, usually with tin as the main additive. It is hard and brittle, and it was particularly significant in antiquity, so much so that the Bronze Age was named after the metal...

 nails. Above the door are two of the duke

Duke

A duke or duchess is a member of the nobility, historically of highest rank below the monarch, and historically controlling a duchy...

's coat-of-arms, decorated with laurel

Bay Laurel

The bay laurel , also known as sweet bay, bay tree, true laurel, Grecian laurel, laurel tree, or simply laurel, is an aromatic evergreen tree or large shrub with green, glossy leaves, native to the Mediterranean region. It is the source of the bay leaf used in cooking...

. The railings of the windows and balconies are painted blue and gold.

Patio

The interior of the patio round arch

Arch

An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...

es on each side. The columns are made of single pieces of granite (the quarries

Quarry

A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

were owned by the duke). On the upper level the columns do not support arches, but rather a running frieze with iron balconies between them, and windows which were originally made from walnut wood.

The palace has four towers at the corners, whose spires were also recovered after the restoration works. No palace could have more than two towers except those belonging to kings, but the Duke of Lerma was given this privilege due to his great powers in Court.